Just the other day, I mentioned that I had gone all winter without being sick. Yeah, that's come back to bite me in the rear!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Follow Friday
Welcome to the 48th edition of the
Please join in the fun and get to know your fellow bloggers!!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Wednesday Hodgepodge Vol 24
1. What is something that bothers you if it is not done perfectly? I'm pretty particular about most things, so it's hard to narrow it down. I do like my bed made up just so with the pillows in their proper places.
2. What is one of your best childhood memories? Sitting on the floor in front of my grandmother while she braided my hair.
3. Do you plan to watch the Royal Wedding and when was the last time you wore a hat? Nope. Not at all interested. The only reason I watched Diana's is because we didn't have cable and I had no choice. Last time I wore a hat was working out in the yard. While I would like to be, I'm not a big hat person.
4. Where do you fall in the birth order in your family? Do you think this has influenced your personality? On my mother's side, I am the 4th of 8. On my father's side, I'm the youngest and only girl. However, I was raised from the age of 2 by my aunt and uncle and was also the youngest there. I don't think my birth order has influenced who I am.
5. Where do you think you spend most of your money? As in physical place? Walmart. It's close and convenient. Darn it!
6. When you need to confront someone would you rather communicate in person, on the phone, by email or by letter? Why? I prefer email. It's quick for me and them. I can write a draft and reread or tweak it before sending. That way I've said what I need to say and hopefully in a way that doesn't hurt or offend.
7. Dodge ball, freeze tag, kickball or jump rope? You have to pick one. Kickball. It's one of the few sports involving a ball that I'm actually good at!
8. Insert your own random thought here. Our computer died and we had to get a new one. All my free clipart is gone! Anybody got a good site they can recommend?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Okay, Where Were We?
Okay, you've got to be getting bored with my travelogue--because I'm kind of getting bored of telling about it. But a couple of things are just too good not to share.
We woke up in our lovely 4-poster bed, reluctant to leave. If I could have packed that mattress and comforter into my suitcase, you better believe I would have! No free breakfast at this hotel, so we stopped at a local place with lots of cars. You know the sign of a good restaurant is a full parking lot. This one was no exception, but I had a hard time with the cigarette smoke. It's against the law in Tennessee to smoke in places where children will be (read: restaurants), so I'm always surprised when I visit other states and that's not the case. Anyway, the breakfast was good.
We headed for Independence Rock--a place I've wanted to visit for years. See, I have an unusual maiden name and rarely find it in random places. But one time I was watching a documentary about the Oregon Trail and they were talking about Independence Rock and showed a picture of it. Lo and behold, there was my maiden name in two foot tall letters! The desire to see that name in person took over and I can't tell you how excited I was to be going there. It was the one thing I wanted to do on our trip. Unfortunately, no one told me that the picture I saw was decades old and most of the writing has been washed off the rock by rain and time. There was nothing to see. But just walking where possible ancestors had walked was enough.
We were told we should be sure to walk all the way around, even though it's over a mile. With all the sitting and eating we'd been doing, we thought it would be a good idea. The weather was chilly and wet, but we persevered. What we weren't told was that the walkway didn't go the whole way round. And on the other side were cows. Very healthy cows. With wonderful digestion systems.
Back in the car and down the road to Devil's Gate and Martin's Cove. And the weather not improving. Don't they know it's springtime?
Martin's Cove is a very reverent place. We met some wonderful people and were on our way up to the actual cove in a golf cart when the storm you see in the photo above picked up speed (and lightning) and bore down on us. We were about halfway from our destination. Go forward? Go back? What to do? Mother Nature decided for us when she suddenly began pelting us with sleet! Before we got back to the car, we were drenched and freezing. I so wanted to get a picture, but Darrell had taken the brunt and I wasn't willing to test his good humor by asking him to pose. (I really regret that decision now.)
Laughing and shivering, we went on our way. Now what? Hmmm. Might as well head for Idaho. But what's this? Fort Bridger is on the way. Let's stop there. But tomorrow is Sunday and with our luck, it'll be closed. And it's cold! So we changed directions again. We're nothing if not flexible. Spent the night in Kemmerer, Wyoming and ate a lovely meal at the Bootlegger. Woke up the next morning to a couple inches of snow on the ground. Remind me again why I didn't bring a coat...
This is long, but I'll wrap it up quickly. We spent two days with good friends in Pocatello and then drove down to Utah to see our son and daughter-in-law. They were house sitting for a family who graciously allowed us to stay there, too. This house was amazing.
Seven bedrooms, seven and a half baths, exercise room, play room, theater! Amazing! And the views!
We finished our trip with a lovely drive through northern Utah and back across Wyoming (with a stop at Ft. Bridger--which is ONLY open on the weekends--go figure!), and into Colorado. Then a short flight home--with no crying toddlers--to find that our ride home had locked the keys in the truck and we would have to wait an hour or so for the locksmith. A fitting ending to our adventure!
We woke up in our lovely 4-poster bed, reluctant to leave. If I could have packed that mattress and comforter into my suitcase, you better believe I would have! No free breakfast at this hotel, so we stopped at a local place with lots of cars. You know the sign of a good restaurant is a full parking lot. This one was no exception, but I had a hard time with the cigarette smoke. It's against the law in Tennessee to smoke in places where children will be (read: restaurants), so I'm always surprised when I visit other states and that's not the case. Anyway, the breakfast was good.
We headed for Independence Rock--a place I've wanted to visit for years. See, I have an unusual maiden name and rarely find it in random places. But one time I was watching a documentary about the Oregon Trail and they were talking about Independence Rock and showed a picture of it. Lo and behold, there was my maiden name in two foot tall letters! The desire to see that name in person took over and I can't tell you how excited I was to be going there. It was the one thing I wanted to do on our trip. Unfortunately, no one told me that the picture I saw was decades old and most of the writing has been washed off the rock by rain and time. There was nothing to see. But just walking where possible ancestors had walked was enough.
We were told we should be sure to walk all the way around, even though it's over a mile. With all the sitting and eating we'd been doing, we thought it would be a good idea. The weather was chilly and wet, but we persevered. What we weren't told was that the walkway didn't go the whole way round. And on the other side were cows. Very healthy cows. With wonderful digestion systems.
Back in the car and down the road to Devil's Gate and Martin's Cove. And the weather not improving. Don't they know it's springtime?
Martin's Cove is a very reverent place. We met some wonderful people and were on our way up to the actual cove in a golf cart when the storm you see in the photo above picked up speed (and lightning) and bore down on us. We were about halfway from our destination. Go forward? Go back? What to do? Mother Nature decided for us when she suddenly began pelting us with sleet! Before we got back to the car, we were drenched and freezing. I so wanted to get a picture, but Darrell had taken the brunt and I wasn't willing to test his good humor by asking him to pose. (I really regret that decision now.)
Laughing and shivering, we went on our way. Now what? Hmmm. Might as well head for Idaho. But what's this? Fort Bridger is on the way. Let's stop there. But tomorrow is Sunday and with our luck, it'll be closed. And it's cold! So we changed directions again. We're nothing if not flexible. Spent the night in Kemmerer, Wyoming and ate a lovely meal at the Bootlegger. Woke up the next morning to a couple inches of snow on the ground. Remind me again why I didn't bring a coat...
This is long, but I'll wrap it up quickly. We spent two days with good friends in Pocatello and then drove down to Utah to see our son and daughter-in-law. They were house sitting for a family who graciously allowed us to stay there, too. This house was amazing.
Seven bedrooms, seven and a half baths, exercise room, play room, theater! Amazing! And the views!
We finished our trip with a lovely drive through northern Utah and back across Wyoming (with a stop at Ft. Bridger--which is ONLY open on the weekends--go figure!), and into Colorado. Then a short flight home--with no crying toddlers--to find that our ride home had locked the keys in the truck and we would have to wait an hour or so for the locksmith. A fitting ending to our adventure!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Easter Hodgepodge
1. What are your plans for Easter Day/weekend? Saturday afternoon we'll be having pictures taken of the grandchildren. Sometime over the weekend, we'll have our annual Easter Egg hunt. Sunday, I'll be driving the GA grandchildren back home and the LA grands will be leaving with their parents. :-(
2. Besides Jesus, what one person from The Bible would you most like to meet and why? Mary, the mother of Jesus. There are just so many things I'd like to ask her.
3. What is one modern day convenience you didn't have as a child that was easy to live without? Duh! The computer!
4. Are you more right brained or left brained? If you don't know what that means there is an interesting little quiz here. I am right brained--just barely.
5. What is something you intended to do today but didn't? Why? Well, it's only 8:17am--can I get back to you?
6. Cadbury Creme Eggs or Reeses peanut butter? Reese's! Unless that Cadbury has caramel inside!
7. Who was your favorite cartoon character when you were a child? I love Penelope Pitstop--she sort of talks like I do.
8. Insert your own random thought here. It appears I'm never going to catch up on my Google Reader. Since being gone last week, I have over 100 posts to read. I want to--I really do--but I just see myself falling further and further behind. I think I'm going to have to just close my eyes and hit 'mark all as read'--knowing I'm missing some great stuff. Forgive me?
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Who Needs a GPS?
Day Two of our journey finds the happy couple up and out pretty early and heading for Mt. Rushmore.
What's this? Clouds? Wind? Forecasts of SNOW? Uh, don't think we signed up for this. Let's fall back and punt. It just happened we stopped in Wheatland to get something to eat and Ft. Laramie was right down the road. Darrell had a Ft. Laramie playset as a youngster and was excited to see the real thing. Sounds like a plan!
Genius idea for trash!
Or a water fountain!
Think the wind blows here?
Were you wondering about the title of this post? Here's where it comes in--those of you just looking at the pictures will be lost (no pun intended). Upon leaving Ft. Laramie, I told Darrell I thought we should turn right and go back out to the main road, but Trudy (our not so trusty GPS) said we should turn left. So left we went. Our paved road turned into a gravel road. Then into a dirt road. At one point, Trudy instructed us to take the next left. When we got there--there was no road--just a path across a pasture. Since we were in a rental car and not a 4WD, we stayed on the dirt road and eventually found where we would have come out had we taken the pasture path.
Looking ahead:
And behind:
First one side:
Then the other:
After many miles and about an hour, we were back on the paved road. What's one of the first things we see? A sign pointing left that said "Ft Laramie 2 miles". Darrell wouldn't let me take a picture of it. Guess he didn't want proof that I was right!
Are you still with me? Just a few more pictures. We spent the night in Casper and had a great surprise waiting for us! Stopped at a normal looking Best Western and asked for a king sized bed. Got the last one available and it was less than $100. Think it was worth it?
The Bed:
The sitting area--complete with sofa bed and desk:
And chairs:
View from the balcony. Yep, that's right, balcony! Booyah!
Darrell actually called the front desk to be sure we were in the right room! He jokingly asked how they knew it was our 35th anniversary. Not long after, a knock at the door brought a bottle of champagne! Since we don't drink, they replaced it with sparkling cider. Talk about customer service!
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